The Die Has Been Cast
by An-Jelly-Ca
Summary: The Hardys&Friends are heading to a convention when their car breaks down and they're stranded in the middle of the forest. A short walk finds them at an old fairground. The gate slams shut, and they get trapped. But all is not as it seems. R&R.
1. All Around the Mulberry Bush

**A/N …It's a bit different then my usual stories but yeah. Lol. This story is brought to you by a combination of being trapped with no computer and no contact with friends for five days (At my Dad's house), watching a little kid movie about a magical roundabout, and flash flood/tornadoes in my area. Rain always gives me ideas. I love the rain.**

**Disclaimer: Do you seriously need to ask? Well…in case you do…I don't own.**

Joe Hardy peered out the window of the van he shared with his brother Frank; rain was coming down in torrents and the mostly unpaved road was difficult to drive on at best. "Do you think this is going to clear up?" Joe inquired. Frank squinted finding it hard to see his mirrors were all fogged up.

"I doubt it." Frank responded. Chet, didn't the weather reports say clear skies for today?" He continued.

"Well…it said mostly clear skies with a thirty percent chance of thunderstorms." Chet replied looking slightly anxious.

"Yeah, but it said that everyday this week and this is the first time it actually rained…" Iola Morton said trying to reassure her brother.

"It'll probably clear up soon, these summer storms never last long." Tony Prito cut in from his seat next to Callie Shaw.

"I don't know; it doesn't really seem as though it's going to stop anytime soon." Biff Hooper answered; as if to voice agreement to his words lightening flashed overhead followed by a clap of thunder.

"We're probably going to be late." Phil Cohen spoke up. The Hardys and their friends were heading into New Jersey to go to a convention that was being held on techniques and gadgets used by various types of law enforcement. Frank and Joe had originally intended to go alone but had invited their friends to come with after deciding that it would be fun to spend a week or so together after the brothers wrapped up yet another case.

The hope was that they would manage to avoid any mysteries for the next few days. Not that it had ever really worked before; trouble always seemed to follow them. Silence fell upon the van as the passengers stared out at the rain pouring down on them by the bucketful. Frank turned the corner onto the next road and was midway down the street when he heard an ominous popping noise and the van swerved. A second pop sounded and Frank had to tug hard on the steering wheel to keep them from colliding head on with a large tree.

"Is everyone okay?" Frank questioned turning off the van. A chorus of affirmative responses sounded.

"What the hell just happened?" Joe wondered peering through the slightly foggy window.

"Well, I'd say we have some flat tires." Frank responded warily. "The question is how exactly did we get them…?"

"I'm going to get out and look." Joe said interrupting his brother's musings. Frank's head shot up and he glared at his brother.

"I'm coming too; with your luck you'll probably end up getting kidnapped as soon as you open the door." Frank responded. Joe rolled his eyes but nodded his assent. The others stayed in the car as Frank and Joe exited through their respective doors. Walking around to the back of the van they found that the tires had puncture holes in them.

"I'd say we either drove over something sharp or our tires got shot out." Joe mused crouching down near one of the rear tires and examining the hole in it.

"Not another mystery…" Chet said with a groan coming up behind the amateur detectives.

"…It appears so, but we should probably focus on getting out of here…" Frank answered. "We only have the one spare and two tires are out so we can hardly use the car to get out of here." Joe answered pushing a chunk of wet hair out of his eyes.

"Let's get back in the van and work out a plan." Frank suggested leading the way back to the front of the van. "Our two back tires are out." He explained to the rest of their friends upon reentering the van. "Does anyone have cell reception?" Frank inquired after a pause as everyone digested the information. There was a slight scramble as people dug through their belongings in search of their phones.

"My phone says it's roaming, and it's shut down the call section." Callie answered squinting at the screen in the darkness of the van.

"Mine's dead." Joe said sheepishly. Frank rolled his eyes; his brother never did remember to charge his phone. Frank checked his and found that he had no bars; Iola, Chet, Biff, Tony, and Phil all had the same result when they tried to use their phones.

"It looks like we're going to have to walk and find help." Frank stated.

"It's pouring rain." Callie replied.

"I know, but we can't very well stay in the van, hardly anyone comes down this road and if we stay here we've no chance of getting help. Besides if we walk a bit maybe we'll be able to find some reception further down." Frank explained. "I think I saw a turnoff for a side road a few miles back, it probably leads to a cabin or something." He continued.

"All right so it looks like we have a plan then." Tony said cheerfully.

"We have flashlights in the back." Joe added thoughtfully.

"Let's go then." Chet cut in. The eight teens piled out of the van and walked around to the back doors. Joe climbed in and emerged a few minutes later with two duffle bags filled with flashlights, flares, ropes, pocket knifes, matches, some granola bars and a first aid kit, wordlessly he passed one bag to his brother.

"All right, we're ready to go." Joe said cheerfully.

The group trudged through the mud in relative silence, the rain was still coming down as hard as before and they needed to put most of their focus on making sure they didn't slip and fall in the large puddles of water that covered most of the ground. After thirty minutes walk they reached the turnoff Frank had seen. It was a narrow road, one that certainly wouldn't have fit their van had it been in working condition. The ground was largely overgrown with weeds and the street was completely unpaved. The teens had to walk through it carefully forced to climb over the fallen limbs of several trees that obscured their pathway. After another hours walk in the rain they came to a large iron gate with the words **Alea iacta est** inscribed along the top.

"_The die has been cast._" Phil murmured.

"What?" Joe questioned.

"'_Alea iacta est_,' it's Latin for '_The_ _die has been cast_'." Phil replied.

"I wonder what it means." Iola mulled over the words in her mind.

"Never mind, let's just go inside." Frank answered pushing gingerly against the gate; it swung open silently despite the fact that the gate was rusty with disuse. It was pitch black other then the small sliver of light their flashlights offered. Iola tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and raised her flashlight so that the beam rested on her surroundings rather then the ground.

"I think it's an old fairground or carnival of some sort…" She said her flashlight resting upon a silent and slightly rusty carousel. Before anyone could respond the gate swung shut with a loud clanking noise. There was an audible tension in the air as Biff pushed against the gate seeing if it would open. It didn't budge…they were trapped. After a moment the fairgrounds lit up and the merry-go-round started to turn and music sounded faintly.

_All around the mulberry bush_

_The monkey chased the weasel_

_The monkey thought 'twas all in fun_

_Pop! goes the weasel._

The music sounded faintly cutting through the night over to the teens. Iola shivered involuntarily and took a step closer to Joe who was staring at the carousel with apprehension visible on his face. It was turning slowly and the music seemed to emanate from it.

_A penny for a spool of thread,_

_A penny for a needle_

_That's the way the money goes_

_Pop! goes the weasel._

Frank shivered but shook his head; it was just a stupid old carousel…nothing to be afraid of. As for why it had just turned on like that he didn't know, but still he knew there was a rational explanation for it. "Is anyone there?" He called. The detective received no response other then the continuation of the faint strains of the childhood nursery rhyme.

_The painter needs a ladder and brush.  
The artist needs an easel.  
The dancer needs a fiddler's two.  
Pop goes the weasel!_

Chet shivered the song was really starting to creep him out. To his left he saw Tony glance over his shoulder at the gate while Biff looked around for any sign of movement. Phil, Callie, Frank, Joe, and Iola were all staring at the carousel; something strange was going on, and it was clear that they were definitely not alone at the supposedly deserted fairgrounds.

_I've no time to wait and sigh.__  
I've no time to wheedle.  
Kiss me quick. I'm off, good bye  
Pop goes the weasel!_

As the last verse of the nursery rhyme sounded and the song started to repeat itself; Frank was almost positive he heard the faint sound of laughter echoing throughout the deserted grounds.

_All around the mulberry bush_

_The monkey chased the weasel_

_The monkey thought 'twas all in fun_

_Pop! goes the weasel._

**A/N Seriously doesn't that song sound kind of like the monkey pops the weasel's head off or something? Review; the button which is not blue, purple, or grey but rather periwinkle likes to be pressed. Lol.**


	2. Exploration

**A/N Hello, my lovely Hardy Boy fans. I have finally returned with a continuation of this story. Do not fear for I promise never to allow you to wait this long for an update again. Updates will take place once a week.**

**Thanks to all Reviewers!**

**Dedication: to dawnfire17 for her review.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

"Maybe we should split up and take a look around, maybe there's a working phone here somewhere." Joe mused.

"Alright, there's eight of us, so that's either four groups of two, or two groups of four." Frank calculated.

"We can cover more ground if we split into smaller groups." Biff pointed out. "Plus, with the way this weather is going, we're going to want to get out of here as quickly as possible."

"Also, it's kind of creepy out here." Callie said with a shudder. Frank squeezed his girl friend's shoulder in comfort.

"Alright, let's split up into groups of two then, Iola you come with me, Callie with Frank, Tony and Biff, Phil and Chet." Joe suggested.

"When are we meeting back here?" Tony questioned.

"How about a half an hour?" Phil questioned the group.

"Sounds good." Frank agreed, while the others nodded their assent. He offered his hand to Callie, and the two went off together in a general North-west direction, giving the carousel a wide berth. The others split off in their groups, each pairing headed off to explore a different part of the abandoned carnival ground.

Callie's gym-shoes squelched loudly in the mud, and she was grateful that she had worn practical shoes, considering the sad state of affairs that was the ground after the recent rain.

Frank trained the beam of the flashlight on the area in front of them, in search of a likely looking building. He could just make out the image of a small building of some sort a little way past the abandoned tilt-a-whirl.

They reached the building after a short walk, and Frank tapped lightly on the door, waiting for an answer. After receiving none he grasped the doorknob and attempted to turn it. The door swung open soundlessly, on well-oiled hinges.

Callie groped along the wall for a light, she found a switch and flicked it on and off, byt the room remained as dimly lit as before. Frank illuminated the room with his flashlight, the beam shone on a phone resting on a desk in the corner of the room.

They stepped further inside and made their way across the room, just as they reached the desk the door shut with a decisive click behind them.

Callie flinched slightly and tightened her hold on the older Hardy brother's hand. When she glanced over her shoulder she saw that the room was mercifully empty of any other occupants, "It must have just been the wind," she murmured more to herself than to her boyfriend.

Frank pressed the phone to his ear, listening for a dial tone. The phone was dead. He sighed and placed it back on the receiver. Just as he was about to suggest going somewhere else a high-pitched scream reverberated through the abandoned carnival ground.

"That sounded like Iola." Callie said her face paling dramatically.

"We better go see what's going on." Frank affirmed. He reached the door in three strides, pulling his girlfriend after him and yanked on the door attempting to pull it open to no avail. "Uh, Cal?"

"Yeah?" She asked her thoughts centered primarily on locating her best friend and making sure she was alright.

"Don't panic, but the door is kind of stuck." Frank replied, this was getting creepier by the second, although he was sure there was a perfectly rational explanation for all this.

Joe and Iola...

Joe and Iola had headed north-east through the carnival-ground, in search of a phone, or perhaps a proprietor that may be looking over the abandoned theme park.

Joe hoped that they would be able to get out of here soon, he had a weird feeling about this place, plus he really did want to make it to that convention.

They spied an old ticket booth, and headed toward it, hoping that there would be a phone inside. Several feet away from the booth, their flashlight flickered and then went out.

"Frank has the extra batteries." Joe stated sheepishly rubbing the back of his head. "We'll get some more when we meet up with the others.

"No big deal, the carousel is providing enough light, anyway." Iola pointed out. Shortly after she made this statement the lights in the fairground momentarily brightened before switching off, the entire area plunging into darkness.

"Iola?" Joe called. She had been standing several feet to his left. A scream resounded through the park, and then as abruptly it stopped. The lights flashed back on and Joe turned to where his girlfriend had been standing to find nothing but one of her flip-flops, which she had insisted on wearing despite their tendency to fall off. "Iola?" He repeated in panicked voice.

There was no answer. The carnival ground remained ominously silent other than the background song of the carousel.

_I've no time to wait and sigh._  
_I've no time to wheedle._  
_Kiss me quick. I'm off, good bye_  
_Pop goes the weasel!_

**A/N Review! This story will be updated every Thursday in compliance with my new updating schedule.**


	3. Revelations

**A/N Hello everyone! I have returned with more of this story! Woot!**

**Thanks to all Reviewers!**

**Dedication: to trinaluv33 for her lovely reviews!**

**Disclaimer: I only own the plot.**

Joe was soon joined at the abandoned ticket booth by Tony, Biff, Chet, and Phil. They had come running upon hearing Iola's screams.

"What happened?" Tony demanded.

"The lights went out, and Iola screamed and they came back on and she was gone." Joe exclaimed worriedly. "I don't know where she is, Chet, I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault, Joe." Chet reassured him. "We'll find her, we'll search the park from top to bottom."

"Where are Frank and Callie?" Phil wondered. "Not to change the topic or anything, but Iola was screaming pretty loudly and they should have been able to hear her which begs the question, where are they?"

**-Story Break-**

"Is there another exit?" Callie wondered.

"Not that I can see." Frank replied scanning the room with his flashlight.

"We need to get out of here and find out what's going on." She continued.

"So eager to leave already?" The voice seemed to come from the ceiling and caused Callie to back away knocking into Frank. "I must warn you that escape is not so simple. Run while you can, but no one leaves alive. Magister mundi sum! Mors ultima linea rerum est."

"It's coming from the loudspeakers." Frank noted pointing out the speakers to his girlfriend.

"Do you know what he said?" Callie asked.

"I'm not as good at Latin as Phil, but I'm pretty sure he said 'I am the Master of the Universe, and death is everything's final limit.'" Frank answered.

"Very good, Frank." The voice sounded amused. The door swung open soundlessly on its hinges. "Run away while you still can, but you will not get far."

Frank and Callie did not need to be told twice, they swiftly headed off in the direction where they had heard Iola screaming.

**-Story Break-**

"We're right here!" Callie exclaimed arriving just in time to catch the end of Phil's question.

"What happened to you two, you look like you've seen a ghost?" Biff asked seeing their pale faces.

"We found an office and we went inside, the door shut and locked behind us." Frank explained.

"We heard Iola scream and we tried to get out, the door wouldn't open and then a voice came on the loudspeaker and said 'so eager to leave already?" Callie continued.

"He said that escape wouldn't be simple, and told us to run while we could, and then he said 'magister mundi sum! Mors ultima linea rerum est." Frank recited.

"I am master of the universe. Death is everything's final limit." Phil translated for the group.

"That's what I thought." Frank agreed.

"Then the door opened, and he said run away but you won't get far." Callie concluded. "We obviously left and headed over here, which begs the question, where is Iola?"

"The lights went out, and I heard Iola scream, we were looking in the ticket booth for a phone. When they came back on she was gone." Joe answered his voice shaking as he spoke.

"Something very strange is going on here." Tony noted.

"We need to comb every inch of this place for Iola and then we need to get out of here." Callie exclaimed.

"Agreed." Chet seconded.

**-Story Break-**

"Don't cry, little girl." The man said to the tied-up brunette girl.

Iola Morton was bound tightly to a wooden chair, her mouth taped shut with duct tape. She was shaking in fear, but not actually crying, and she glared fiercely at him cursing at her inability to express her hatred for him.

"Optimum est pati quod emendare non possis (1)." He whispered gleefully her. "You don't understand me do you, little girl?"

She glared at him attempting either to kill him from the ferocity of it or else to express her dislike of being called little girl.

"No matter, in the end you will understand." He replied. "We all do."

**A/N (1) The phrase he says to Iola is "it is best to endure what you cannot change."**

**This story will be updated next Thursday in compliance with my update schedule. I am sorry for the slight lateness of this update.**


	4. The Search Begins

**A/N Hello, everybody! I have finally returned with an update for all of you. So read and enjoy. :D**

**Thanks to all Reviewers!**

**Dedication: to Dawnfire17, thank you for your review. I can assure you that something evil will indeed happen to Frank eventually. I am quite incapable of writing a story in which he is not tormented. :D (only in my world does talk of torment merit a smiley face...)**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. ;)**

"So, obviously our first priority needs to be to locate Iola as soon as possible." Chet put in, obviously very concerned about his missing younger sister.

"The question is whether we should look for her as a group or split up," Frank began glancing around at everyone. "Obviously, we thought splitting up was the best option earlier, but it seems like that makes it easier for whoever took Iola to prey on us." He rationalized.

"Yeah, but that also means it will take that much longer to be able to find her." Callie pointed out.

"Whatever we do we need to do it as soon as humanly possible." Joe exclaimed his face tight with worry over his girlfriend.

"Let's just split up, Joe will have to join another group, but if we split up we have a better chance of finding her faster." Tony reasoned.

"Alright, but we should agree not to approach if we manage to find Iola. Whoever has her is probably dangerous and we're going to want to all be present when we attempt to rescue her, two or three of us shouldn't just go rushing in." Phil said by way of agreement.

"Fine, fine." Joe agreed. "Why don't I join up with Phil and Chet?"

"Sounds good." Chet agreed while the others nodded their consent.

"Okay, meet back here in half an hour or if you find Iola. Agreed?" Frank suggested garnering nods and murmurs of assent from those gathered.

-Story Break-

A dark figure watched on a cluster of television screens as the group of teens formed their plans and agreed on a meeting time, laughing softly to himself. Their attempts were really quite comical. He was certain that by the time they returned in a half an hour to that spot not only would they not have managed to rescue their precious Iola they would have lost one more from their number.

He did so enjoy being the ringmaster.

-Story Break-

"What are we going to do?" Tony wondered. "Wander randomly from building to building hoping that we'll open the door to one and discover Iola?"

"Well, yeah, pretty much," Biff replied with an affirmative nod. "You have grasped the core concept of the plan."

"Oh. Well. Then." Tony replied succinctly. "Let's just hope we find Iola before whoever has Iola finds us."

"I second that." Biff replied with a nod as they reached a likely looking building and he pushed the door open, he would've expected it to creak seeing as how the fairground seemed to be so long in disuse, instead the door swung open soundlessly on well-oiled hinges.

Tony and Biff preceded into the dark room their hearts hammering in their chests.

-Story Break-

Callie clung tightly to her boyfriend's hand as they entered their second building in the past fifteen minutes. The first had yielded nothing despite their careful search for secret doors or passageways that could lead them to Iola. She really wished that real life were more like Scooby Doo, where they all but hung a giant sign bearing the legend, 'bad guys hidden here,' that would be really helpful to them right about now.

Unfortunately, the bad guy in this case, whoever he may be, did not appear willing to oblige them. The room they were currently appeared to have been a eating area in a previous life, when the carnival had undoubtedly been far less creepy, and more orientated to family fun than serving as the home to a kidnapper.

Tables and chairs littered the room, and a thick layer of dust clung to everything, Callie followed Frank behind the counter in search of a phone, or Iola, or really anything that could prove to be of use.

Frank and Callie quickly discovered that they were not alone in the abandoned eating area.

-Story Break-

Phil, Chet, and Joe had examined every single detail of the ticket booth that Iola had disappeared near, and had been unable to find any footprints, or secret doorways that her assailant may have dragged her through. Everything was eerily still, conjuring up images of the calm that comes directly before a tornado hits.

The only noise in the otherwise silent fairground was the faint strains of music coming from the carousel. Iola had, or so it appeared, quite literally disappeared into thin air leaving no trace of where she had gone.

"You know that merry go round is really beginning to freak me out." Chet muttered staring over at the slowly rotating device.

"We don't have time to worry about that now, we need to find Iola." Joe replied insistently.

"You don't think I know that?" Said girl's brother replied with a glare. "It just seems like there might be more to that carousel that meets the eye."

Joe eyed the merry go round and its white horses dubiously. "It looks pretty normal to me."

"Why don't we just check it out?" Phil intervened. "I mean we need to check everywhere anyway..."

"I guess." Joe replied leading the way over to the merry go round.

He reached up, bracing himself against one of the white horses as he pulled himself onto the platform. Phil and Chet mirrored his actions and soon all three were standing on the carousel.

The merry go round began to rotate, steadily picking up speed, and all three teenagers reached out for something to grab on to as the world disappeared in a dizzying whirl.

_All around the mulberry bush_

_The monkey chased the weasel_

_The monkey thought 'twas all in fun_

_Pop! goes the weasel._

**A/N I apologize for the delay everyone, the next chapter should be up next Thursday in compliance with the schedule. Review!**


	5. Another Missing Friend

**A/N Guess what! This story is the first one to be updated on my brand new pink laptop. :D**

**Thanks to all Reviewers!**

**Dedication: To Leo112 for reviewing. :D Thanks for the suggestions, I will most likely incorporate some of them into later chapters. :)**

Tony shone the beam of the flashlight on the dusty floor of the room, sending a narrow stream of illumination forth to light their way. Not a whisper of wind sounded through the oppressively silent room as he and Biff ventured forth.

He flashed the light at the walls and saw a large spider scuttle up the wall. Tony shuddered. If he had to describe this place in a word, he'd definitely say 'creepy.' He was reminded of one of those horror movies where a group of teenagers are locked in a house or somewhere similar, while a murderer picks them off one by one.

It had even begun in the way of most such movies: with the disappearance of a girl. Tony shook his head to clear it, he was being paranoid, there was no reason to think that there was some kind of killer loose on the carnival grounds, maybe Iola had just taken a wrong turn when the lights went out, or something-

The sound of screams echoed through the fairground.

OR maybe there was a killer loose on the grounds picking them off one by one.

-Story Break-

Callie screamed loudly as her eyes trained on the large rat, its eyes glowing yellow in the dark. She stumbled backwards into her boyfriend. Frank looked vaguely disgusted by the large rodent but nowhere near as horrified as his girlfriend evidently was.

The rat was unfazed by her screams and stayed where it was staring at them in a decidedly creepy manner.

The two teenagers decided retreat to be the better part of valor and having ascertained that Iola was not in fact in the room hurriedly left the building.

The stepped outside into the muggy night air just as loud screams resounded across the fairground.

-Story Break-

Joe jumped off the rapidly spinning carousel, throwing his hands out to break his fall. He quickly stood up and yelled for Chet and Phil to try jumping off as well. As he said this, the merry go round seemed to pick up even more speed making it appear as a blur of color from where he stood.

He heard Phil shout from within the spinning contraption but was unable to see him amidst the blue of carousel horses.

"Phil? Chet? Are you guys okay?" Joe called out loudly. He received no response. The lights flickered and went out, the carousel ground to a stop. Joe heard what was unmistakably Chet stumble off the platform and collapse onto the ground. As he did this the lights turned back on and he was able to make out his friend seated on the ground holding his head. "Are you alright?" Joe asked making his way over to him.

"Just dizzy, that was like no spinning ride I ever wanted to go on." Chet replied. "And here I thought carousels were supposed to be a kiddy ride?"

Joe was about to reply when he noticed that Phil had not emerged from the carousel. "Where's Phil?" He asked.

"I don't know." Chet answered. "I would think he followed me off." Joe made a circuit of the carousel scanning the area for his friend. Unfortunately, Phil seemed to have disappeared, apparently into thin air much like Iola had a short while ago.

"What is going on here?" Joe wondered, a worried line appearing between his eyebrows.

Biff and Tony arrived next to them right then, having sprinted across the fairground towards the sound of the screaming.

"What happened?" Biff asked glancing around; obviously noticing that Phil was not with them.

"Where's Phil?" Tony asked.

"We don't know." Chet said grimly.

Joe opened his mouth to relate what happened only to be interrupted by the arrival of Frank and Callie.

"What happened?" Callie asked.

"Where's Phil?" Frank wondered.

"Is it just me or does it seem like we're having the same conversation over and over?" Joe wondered aloud to Chet.

"It's because we_ are_ having the same conversation over and over." Chet replied.

"Alright, well repeat it one more time." Frank requested.

"We were looking at the carousel and then it started spinning really fast," Joe began. "I jumped off, Chet and Phil didn't. I heard Phil start yelling, the lights went out, and when they came back on the carousel had stopped spinning, but Phil was gone."

"Exactly what is going on here?" Callie wondered. "First Iola, now Phil."

"Clearly we're in a bad horror movie." Tony replied benignly.

Seemingly, to lend further atmosphere to the horror movie-like atmosphere, the lights flickered but stayed on as the group of teenagers looked apprehensively around the fairground.

"Welcome to my fun house." The crackly voice sounded over the intercom and the group of teenagers visibly jumped. "You may have noticed that your numbers have dwindled." He informed them.

"That's one way of putting it." Joe muttered bitterly.

He was shushed by the others who were waiting for the voice to say more.

"You will find that one by one your friends disappear until just one of you is left," The voice continued as though Joe had never spoken. "Then you will all go to your **requies aeterna**. _Good luck_." And, with a high-pitched cackle of laughter the voice cut off and the teenagers were left standing alone in the middle of the deserted fairground.

**A/N Review! Next update will be on Thursday.**


	6. Difficult Decisions

**A/N Hello, everyone, huge apologies for the lateness, I've totally not had time to update with getting stuff ready for college.**

**Thanks to all Reviewers!**

**Dedication: To Cheryl for her review! :D**

**Disclaimer: I only own the plot.**

"I brought you a present," The man that Iola was rapidly beginning to loathe announced. He plopped the unconscious Phil into a chair opposite hers.

"What the hell did you do to him?" Iola demanded or would have demanded if her mouth weren't taped shut, instead it sounded rather more like "mmph! Urgh! Meh!"

She watched their captor attempt to keep the unconscious Phil from sliding down in the chair. He procured some rope and bound Phil tightly to the chair, having the dual goal of keeping him from escaping once he awoke and keeping him from falling out of the chair prior to that.

"Sorry, where you trying to say something, little girl?"

Iola swore that when she got loose she would hurt him in a painful way for referring to her in such a manner.

"I bet you want to know what I did to your friend, not to worry, he's perfectly alright or will be soon enough." He assured her in a way that was decidedly not comforting at all.

"Mergh!" Iola pronounced in a tone that implied dark thoughts indeed.

"You're quite rude, you know." He informed her.

Iola scoffed and rolled her eyes at this statement, as she was unable to speak and inform him why she felt no obligation to treat her kidnapper politely (although she would think he would be used to it with such a charming personality as he had).

"Here I am bringing you a gift, and you can't even be bothered to say thank you." He continued shaking his head in dismay at her lack of manners.

Iola really wished that she could point out that even if she had any desire to thank him (which she didn't), such efforts would be rather hampered by the fact that her mouth was in fact taped shut.

"I bet you're wondering what my plan is, aren't you?" He inquired benignly. "It really is quite brilliant."

Iola rolled her eyes; clearly she was in the presence of a megalomaniac. Plus, if he thought he was so brilliant then why did it seem like he was about to reveal his grand master plan to her? Everyone knows that the ultimate undoing of any good criminal mastermind is revealing his plan. Duh (1).

"…Well, too bad."

Maybe he was a tad smarter than the average criminal, but not by much.

"You'll find out in time, once our little game progresses further."

-Story Break-

"I think it's safe to say that any theories that Iola simply got lost are off the table at this point," Frank said grimly.

"The only question is how Phil could have disappeared off the carousel." Biff continued. "Well, not the only question obviously, but you know what I mean."

"Yeah, we do." Chet agreed. "Look, what we need to do is find Iola and Phil and then get out of here as fast as possible, even if we have to walk the entire way. Something strange is going on and I get the feeling we don't want to be around for the finale."

"Tsk, tsk." The chilling voice that had rapidly become familiar to them sounded over the intercom. "Trying to leave already? After I was so very hospitable to you."

A cry of 'merugh!' sounded muffled in the background before there was a loud crash over the loudspeakers and it went silent.

"That sounded like Iola." Joe stated slowly.

"Are you sure?" Tony asked.

"Positive." Joe confirmed. "We need to find her."

"I am very sorry to have left you all," The voice had returned again. "One of my house guests was being very disrespectful, so I was forced to silence her. I guess it's true what they say, teenagers are so very ungrateful."

"Don't you touch her!" Joe exclaimed glancing wildly around as though expecting to suddenly spot whoever it was who had taken Iola and Phil.

"I will do whatever I choose Mr. Hardy, try to remember that it is I and not you who control the game," The man continued coldly. "If I so choose I can end the pathetic existence of your precious Iola right here and right now and you will never see her again."

"Leave her alone." Callie piped in.

"Jumping in as usual, Miss Shaw?" The voice asked silkily. "I'm not surprised; you do seem to have quite the temper."

"As if you're fit to lecture any one on temper or hospitality, you nutcase." Callie spat back.

"Really, Miss Shaw, you would do well to hold your tongue, you will find that such outbursts have consequences, when you come and join my little house party, very, very soon. Until then I bid you adieu!"

"That's it. We're done splitting up." Frank said firmly. "It's done us absolutely no good so far, and we are not going to risk this guy grabbing anyone else."

"What we really need right now is the police." Tony pointed out. "We really don't have the manpower to scour this park for Iola and Phil."

"We can't just leave and go walk to the nearest town, which if memory serves me is at least three miles away," Joe replied. "No way am I leaving without Iola and Phil."

"Maybe we should just send two people to go get help, while the rest of us look for Iola." Callie offered.

"The only problem is that we're all trapped in here, the gate is locked." Tony pointed out.

"We could probably climb it." Biff stated pointing toward the fence. "It's not that high, only twelve feet or so."

"I don't know." Frank put in doubtfully. "Splitting up could be exceptionally dangerous."

"I rather doubt that whoever is behind this is going to follow us onto the main road," Tony volunteered. "He seems to be more interested in playing a game here on the fairground, and if only two of us slip out he'll still have plenty to occupy him here."

"We may as well," Joe said. "We need to act fast, before this guy has time to hurt Iola and Phil."

"Fine," Frank agreed. "Who is going to go?" He immediately eyed his girlfriend. "You should really go, Callie, it seems like he's angling for you to be one of his 'guests' very soon."

"Oh, no way," Callie replied. "First of all I cannot climb that fence. Second of all, Iola is my best friend and Phil is my friend too, and no way am I leaving." She crossed her arms firmly across her chest and glared up at her boyfriend.

Frank sighed; he should have known that would never work. "Who is willing to go, then?"

"Biff and I will go," Tony volunteered for both of them. "As I rather doubt that Chet is any more likely to leave here than Joe or Callie no matter how temporary."

Chet nodded in agreement with his friend's statement.

"I'm up for it." Biff agreed.

"It's settled then, you two go off and get help, as fast as possible, stick to the main road, don't go wandering off into the woods." Frank cautioned.

"We won't." Tony promised for the both of them.

Frank, Callie, Joe, and Chet soon found themselves standing alone in the deserted fairground awaiting whatever would come next.

**A/N (1) When I wrote this I was totally reminded of the Evil Overlord List which is amazingly funny and can be found here: ..**

**Anyway, review! Update should be on Thursday, but is not guaranteed because I am just seventeen days away from college and my mom is forcing me to start packing up my stuff. :P**


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